WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden wants to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters, a last-minute attempt to block potential action by the new Trump administration to expand offshore drilling.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, said he was using authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the east and west coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska’s northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural oil to protect gas leasing.
“My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses and beachgoers have long known: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we care about and that it is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” said Biden in a statement.
“As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we transition to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these shores for our children and grandchildren,” he said.
Biden’s orders would not affect enormous swaths of the Gulf of Mexico, where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs, but they would protect coastlines along California, Florida and other states from future drilling.
Biden’s actions, which protect more than 625 million acres of federal waters, could be tough for President-elect Donald Trump to reverse because they would likely require an act of Congress to overturn them. Trump himself has a complicated history with offshore drilling. In 2020, he signed a memorandum directing the Secretary of the Interior to ban drilling in the waters off the coasts of Florida and off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina by 2032.
The action came after Trump initially sought to significantly expand offshore drilling before backing down amid widespread opposition in Florida and other coastal states.
Trump has vowed to establish American “energy dominance” around the world by boosting U.S. oil and gas production and moving away from Biden’s focus on climate change.
Environmentalists applauded Biden’s actions and said new oil and gas drilling must be severely restricted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. The year 2024 was the hottest year on record.
“This is an epic ocean victory!” said Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana.
Gordon thanked Biden “for listening to the voices of coastal communities” opposing drilling and “contributing to the bipartisan tradition of protecting our coasts.”
Biden’s actions build on the legacy of Democratic and Republican presidents to protect coastal waters from offshore drilling, Gordon said, adding that U.S. shores are home to tens of millions of Americans and support billions of dollars in economic activity that is dependent on a neat environment Abundant wildlife and prospering fisheries depend on it.
In weighing multiple uses of America’s oceans, Biden said it was clear that the areas he was withdrawing from fossil fuel apply had “relatively minimal potential” to pose possible risks to the environment, public health and the economy would not arise from new leasing and drilling work.
A Trump spokeswoman mocked Biden, saying, “Joe Biden clearly wants high gas prices to be his legacy.”
Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt called Biden’s actions “a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump the mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices.” Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail and we will drill, baby, drill.”
Biden has proposed up to three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico but none in Alaska, as he tries to navigate between energy companies seeking greater oil and gas production and environmental activists who want him to pursue new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico the fight against climate change stops.
A five-year drilling plan approved in 2023 includes planned offshore sales in 2025, 2027 and 2029. The three lease sales are the minimum number the Democratic government could legally offer if it wants to further expand offshore wind power development.
Under the terms of a 2022 climate law, the government must offer at least 60 million acres (24.2 million hectares) of offshore oil and gas leases over a one-year period before it can offer offshore wind leases.
Biden, whose decision to approve the massive Willow oil project in Alaska was roundly condemned by environmental groups, has previously restricted offshore drilling in other areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
